(The Wall Street Journal) -- Many employers and employees don't see eye to eye on what keeps workers happy, a disparity that could spell trouble for businesses as the economy recovers.

Employers consider management climate and workers' relationships with their bosses as most important, but employees cite pay and benefits, according to a survey last winter by Spherion Corp., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., staffing firm. Respondents included 306 human-resources managers and 2,519 employees at firms of all sizes. Surveys conducted in 2007 and 2005 generated the same top results.

Tucker Callaway, a sales director at CA Inc., says compensation was a big factor in his decision to join the software maker in April. He also cites poor morale and a lack of leadership at his former employer, another technology company.

Mr. Callaway, 34, says CA gave him a 20% raise. "I have a mortgage and two kids, so pay is extremely important," he says.

Workplace experts say many workers have grown frustrated during the recession and might consider leaving as the labor market improves. Employees are less committed to their employers, according to an annual survey by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and WorldatWork, an association of human-resource professionals. Results were based on responses by 1,300 workers at 235 large U.S. firms in May. Commitment dropped most among top performers, according to the survey.

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Tags: retention, morale, new economy, talent management

Categories: News | Research

(BusinessWeek) -- While they continue to slog through the longest economic downturn in decades, companies are no longer making cost-cutting their primary focus. Innovation is now front and center on the corporate agenda, according to a global survey we recently conducted with 65 senior executives from diverse industries. Executives are adding more breakthrough innovations and business model changes to their portfolio to fuel the growth engine for the recovery.

Yet our survey reveals that companies by and large are having trouble making innovation efforts work. Executives are struggling to find the right combination of business strategy, operational model, and execution to deliver profitable growth.

Why the concern with execution? Currently every aspect of business is fair game for reinvention—revenue and margin models, functional areas, and even the organization itself. The risks are also a lot higher than in the past. With so many moving parts and so much riding on the outcome, it's no wonder executives are anxious that they will miss the target when they execute. As one executive told us: "Management feels very comfortable about our ability to manage costs—we have a good track record. We don't have the same track record for organic growth from innovation." In other words, it's harder to innovate than it used to be.

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Tags: new economy, innovation, productivity, business acumen

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Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) -- With the economy cautiously turning the corner, senior leaders are focused on hiring and developing talent, according to a survey of more than 450 senior executives on LinkedIn® by Right Management. 94 percent of executives said talent management is a top priority for 2010. Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services.

The findings present good news for employees and job seekers. Employers are preparing themselves for growth opportunities as the economy rebounds and are looking for ways to enhance performance and productivity. One-third of the senior executive respondents will be hiring new talent in 2010, while 36 percent will focus on developing current talent. Twenty percent reported that increasing employee engagement is a top priority. Career development opportunities and efforts to increase engagement typically improve retention, which may explain why only 4 percent of senior leaders indicated they would be focusing efforts on retention.

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Tags: talent management, employee retention, career development, executives, new economy

Categories: News | Research

U.S. President Barack Obama says innovation will be the key to creating the jobs of the future.  Mr. Obama says he is looking for new ways to recoup the jobs lost during the economic recession.

With a new round of dismal job loss figures expected later the week, President Obama says he is searching for ways to create new employment opportunities.

"This is my administration's overriding focus," said President Obama. "Having brought the economy back from the brink, the question is how are we going to make sure that people are getting back to work and able to support their families."

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Tags: innovation, jobs, new economy, federal government

Categories: News

The chief executive of New York-based Deloitte L.L.P., one of the nation’s largest accounting and consulting firms, said Wednesday that following through with plans to build a $300 million training facility during the worst recession in 50 years is actually "a bullish and smart move."

"Make no mistake, when this recession ends the war for talent will resume, and when it does, Deloitte University will be a big differentiator and powerful draw," CEO Barry Salzberg told the group at the groundbreaking for the firm’s training and conference facility in Westlake.

"It’s almost the perfect time for us to do this," he said. "The whole philosophy of building a learning and development facility like we’re doing is to make sure it’s embedded in our culture in good times or bad."

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Tags: training, recession, new economy, learning, development

Categories: News | The Economy

As the unemployment rate catapulted upwards to nearly 10 percent over the past year, the importance of severance polices was prevalent at companies across the country. The 2009 BenchmarkPro results showed that 55.2 percent of companies surveyed currently have a severance policy in place.

Companies in the manufacturing industry report having severance policies at a rate of 66 percent, compared to the insurance industry, 61.9 percent. Healthcare offers severance at a rate of 53.6 percent, while utility companies offer it at 45.4 percent. Severance is offered least to employees at not-for-profits, 41.6 percent.

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Tags: new economy, unemployment, severance, layoffs

Categories: Research | The Economy

There’s no doubt about it: the past year or so has been a lean time for most companies. And while there’s hope that the worst (economically speaking) might be behind us, we aren’t out of the woods yet. The dark days of the recession have spawned a troubling new issue, one that could cripple organizations even as we head into recovery. The looming problem? A widespread loss of employee engagement. 

“Even if companies haven’t literally lost their employees, many have lost them psychologically,” warns Jon Gordon, speaker, consultant, and author of the new book The Shark and the Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change. “Too many Americans are beaten down, burned out, and completely de-motivated. And if leaders don’t strive to change that—to create a positive culture that energizes people—there will be dire consequences.” 

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Tags: new economy, employee engagement, morale, leadership

Categories: The Economy

The silver lining in a lousy economy is employee retention, but as economic prospects brighten, most firms are thinking about ways to retain talent, according to the latest study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on the subject of organizational turnover and engagement. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into big raises for most employees, who have seen few pay raises of late.

In this down economy, the study, the full results of which are now available to i4cp members in both standard and interactive form, found that higher market performing companies are more than twice as likely to offer pay raises to keep key talent from walking out the door than are lower performers.

The study showed that 18% of high-performing organizations have already taken the step of increasing compensation levels to reduce turnover, compared to 7% of lower performers. Over the next six to 12 months, the same ratio of high performers (18%) plan to implement pay raises, while almost a quarter (24%) of lower performers have plans to do so.

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Tags: new economy, research, employee retention, employee engagement, turnover, performance

Categories: Research | The Economy

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) -- Although economic recovery in the U.S. remains uncertain and is far from complete, Modern Survey's measurement of the U.S. workforce shows that employee engagement has risen steadily during the last twelve months. The level of employee engagement recorded in late August is now back to where it was in August of 2007 (before the recession became apparent), following a precipitous decline from August 2007 to August 2008.

All five components of Modern Survey's Employee Engagement Index show further improvement since the February 2009 measurement, resulting in statistically significant gains on all components since August of 2008. The most dramatic improvement is in the number of employees who say they intend to stay with their company, which rose by 11 percentage points, from a low of 52% in August '08, to 57% by February '09, and now stands at 63%.

Such encouraging figures in the face of continued economic hardship may well indicate a fundamental change in the psychology of the American worker.

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Tags: new economy, research, employee engagement

Categories: Research | The Economy

GREENWICH, Conn. (BUSINESS WIRE)--Executive hiring appears to be reemerging at many organizations after being frozen for the last year due to the financial credit crisis based upon the results of the recent Claymore Partners’ Labor Day 2009 Executive Talent Market survey with over 640 executive respondents. “Almost half of employers are now selectively hiring executives and significant reductions are greatly diminished based upon the survey results as well as our own executive search activity and market discussions," according to Mr. Landberg, Managing Director of Claymore Partners.

Health insurance, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, wealth management, investment banking, and consulting/professional services industries appear to be most robust in terms of executive hiring at this time. From a functional perspective, executive hiring increases are most pronounced in sales, consulting, and risk management/compliance. The direct impact of the financial credit crisis for most executives appears to be waning though strong hiring is not expected until mid to year end 2010 by most executives.

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Tags: new economy, research, hiring, executives

Categories: Research | The Economy